Tokens
by StormWolf10
Summary: Part of the HavenVerse. AU. One by one, the children begin to open up to Rose in the aftermath of her discharge from hospital. Nightmares are had, tears are shed, and gifts are given.


**A/N: Part 3 of the HavenVerse, order found on my profile page. In which Rose receives some gifts, and one by one the children open up.**

He'd gotten the kids to pack Rose a little bag each week. It had seemed a good idea at the time, John had mused, and Donna and Wilf had both actively encouraged the idea, as did Martha and Mickey. And, like Jack and Sarah Jane had both pointed out, it got the children involved in Rose's care, made sure that they knew they were just as involved as their Dad was, even if they couldn't visit as much. The bag ended up containing anything, from drawings Felix and Olivia had drawn Rose, to little notes Oscar had written, to sweets that Alex bought on the way home from school on a whim. It was John's job to take the bag into Rose once a week on a Saturday morning. On a Sunday morning, Rose got to see the children and thank them.

Once Rose was home- well, back at the flat she and the Smiths were calling home for the time being- the bags stopped. The gifts, however, didn't. The flat's pokey little kitchen was littered with drawings Olivia and Felix (and, on one occasion, Oscar) had drawn, both for their Dad and for Rose. Alex still occasionally brought sweets home after school, claiming that a friend had just happened to give them to him, or he'd won them for getting the highest score in a class quiz. Somewhat suspiciously, Rose confided one night to John when the kids were asleep, they were always her favourite sweets. They never brought it up in front of the kids, though. It was nice, what they were doing, and John and Rose didn't want to make the kids feel self-conscious.

**~StormWolf10~**

It took several weeks for the tokens and gifts to turn into whispered conversations, of voiced fears and of recurring nightmares. Rose had been out of hospital for almost a month when the first incident occurred. Little Felix crept into her bed at just gone two in the morning, curling up beneath her duvet beside her. Granted, she was on the sofa bed in the sitting room, so Rose wasn't entirely certain at first if Felix was there for her or the DVD player. However, if his slight snuffles and red eyes weren't enough to confirm Rose's thoughts, the way the little boy fisted his hands in her night shirt and burrowed his head against her certainly did. Rose held the boy silently as he wept, stroking his back and pressing kisses to his furrowed forehead every now and then, and when his sobs finally ceased, she pulled back to look at the boy.

"What was all that about, sweetheart?" Rose asked quietly, brow furrowed in concern.

Felix bit his lip and sniffed.

"I… I didn't think you'd come home," the boy admitted after a few moments, voice small as more tears welled in his brown eyes.

"Why'd you think that, sweetheart?" Rose asked gently.

Again, the boy sniffed.

"'Cause Daddy wouldn't let us see you," the boy responded, wide-eyed in the gloom of the room. "An' when… When Mummy got hurt, he wouldn't let us see her, either."

Rose's eyes shut at the realisation, at the fear the children must have felt. The only thing they'd had to compare her accident to was their own mother's death. Of course they'd been worried.

"But I'm alright, Felix," Rose assured the boy gently, giving him a reassuring smile. "I'm here, and I'm not going anywhere."

**~StormWolf10~**

It was Oscar who approached Rose next. School had just finished for the summer, Felix and Olivia making do with the cramped sitting room rather than the spacious garden they were used to, and Alex was off out somewhere. Oscar approached Rose in the kitchen, glancing around nervously despite the small space.

"Is Dad out?" Oscar piped up suddenly, nervous.

Rose nodded, looking over from where she'd been leant against a worktop, sipping a mug of tea.

"Yeah," she nodded, "we're out of milk, so he's just nipped to the shop."

Oscar nodded, looking uncertain.

"Can… Can I speak to you, then?"

Rose looked perplexed, but nodded, and Oscar hurriedly crossed the small expanse of floor to where Rose was stood.

"The thing is…" Oscar began uncertainly, shifting from foot to foot and staring at the ground. He stopped, blinked, took a deep breath and started again, voice soft. "I thought you were gonna die."

And then, Oscar was in Rose's arms, sobbing as she hugged him. Just the same as with Felix, she held the boy until he calmed enough to speak.

"I… The injuries you had," Oscar began again once he'd calmed down, "the stuff that… That bloke had done to you…"

He trailed off again, feeling Rose's gaze on him. She reached for the boy, squeezed his shoulder gently. He'd turned 11 just over a month before, had been taking his SATs while all the chaos in the aftermath of Jimmy Stone had been happening. The school had been understanding enough, but he'd still had to take the exams.

But then Rose had no more time to dwell, because Oscar was speaking again.

"I looked them up," the boy confessed, voice barely more than a whisper as finally- _finally_- he met Rose's gaze. "Your injuries. I… I researched them." He took a deep breath, watching Rose's puzzled expression. "The extent of the injuries he inflicted on you, the amount of blood you'd lost…" He smiled awkwardly then. "Probably shouldn't have researched it, should I?"

Rose returned the smile a little worriedly, her concern evident in her eyes, and she shook her head.

"No," she agreed, "you probably shouldn't have." She paused. "You should have spoken to your Dad, or Donna, or me in the later weeks. I know you wanted answers, Oscar, but you can't go around researching stuff from the internet, not stuff like that. The amount of horror stories you probably read…"

Rose trailed off, shook her head, bit her lip and looked away. Oscar watched her guiltily.

"I didn't want to upset Dad," he admitted after a moment or two of silence. "I… When Mum died, he didn't like talking about it, not at first. He did eventually, of course. Spoke to all of us individually… But I was scared to ask, in case you'd died… In case you _were_ dying. I didn't want to upset him, to force him to admit that we wouldn't see you again…"

As tears began to fall from the boy's eyes again, Rose sighed, and pulled him in for a cuddle. He was too grown up for his own good, Rose noted, vowing to speak to John about it later. He'd taken it upon himself not to upset John, or Donna, or any other adult who could have helped, and in doing so, he'd made things so much worse for himself.

"Oh, Oscar," Rose sighed quietly, pressing a kiss to the boy's head.

**~StormWolf10~**

The third incident occurred barely hours after the second. Felix had joined Rose in bed again, and at just before one in the morning, a shadow appeared in the doorway.

"Rose?"

Rose sighed quietly.

"What is it, Livvy?" she asked quietly, stifling a yawn.

"I can't sleep," Olivia responded, voice sounding like she was crying.

Rose sighed again.

"Come on, then," Rose murmured, patting the space beside her that wasn't occupied by the sleeping Felix.

She heard the girl pad across the floor before slipping under the covers.

"I had a nightmare," Olivia stated quietly, sniffing.

"Yeah?" Rose asked softly, wanting to sleep but knowing the girl would want to talk. "What about?"

"You," Olivia admitted, a little shyly. "And Daddy."

"Why's that?" Rose prompted, pulling the girl to her.

"Because of what that man did to you," came Olivia's quiet response, voice muffled by the way she'd cuddled up close to Rose. "An' how he hurt you and Daddy."

There was no need to ask who 'he' was. Jimmy. The kids knew his name, of course, but refused to address him as such, and Rose couldn't blame them.

"Daddy said he was ok," Olivia continued, sniffing again, and the dampness on Rose's vest top told her the girl was crying. "But he's got a scar now, on his neck. An' you've got scars too."

Rose blinked, unsure how to respond to that.

"Well," she began after a few moments, frowning as she stroked the girl's hair, "we can cover our scars up, and they're not that obvious." She paused. "Are they?"

She felt Olivia shrug against her.

"You and Daddy can't get rid of the scars though, can you?" Olivia asked, voice suddenly hopeful as she pulled back to look at Rose.

Rose shook her head.

"We can cover them up, like I said," Rose explained, shifting slightly as Felix curled even closer to her on the other side. "Like, I could use makeup on mine, and we can cover them up with clothes, but we can't get rid of them."

Olivia took a moment, seeming to process what she'd just been told.

"Then I'll try not to look," the girl said resolutely after a few moments.

And then, she snuggled closer to Rose and gave in to sleep.

**~StormWolf10~**

Alex, somewhat predictably, was the last to speak to Rose.

"Rose," he asked from the doorway of the sitting room one night as the rest of the kids were getting ready for bed with John's help, "can I ask you something?"

Rose nodded, setting her book down. She'd been expecting him to come to her at some point, and it had been almost a fortnight after the other kids. Somewhat nervously, Alex crossed the room and took a seat on the sofa. He opened his mouth, as if to speak, and then closed it again. Rose watched as, taking a deep breath, Alex tried again.

"You… Do you understand what the bags were for, while you were in hospital?" Alex asked nervously, fidgeting on the sofa.

Rose frowned slightly.

"Well, it was stuff from you guys," Rose responded in confusion. "Figured it was because you couldn't come visit at first."

"It was," Alex replied with a nod. "But the tokens, they… They served another purpose, too." He paused, continued. "It was to show how much you mean, Rose. To show that you're… Well, that you're family."

Rose blinked, staring at the boy in surprise.

"I know Dad loves you," Alex continued before Rose could fully process what was happening, "and I think you love him. We- me and Oscar and Livvy and Felix-, we consider you our… Our step-Mum, I guess." He trailed off, shrugged. "We wanted to show you how much you mean to us, how much we'd miss you if you left. It's why Felix was so worried about where you'd go once you were discharged from hospital."

There was a pause then, Rose unsure what to say and Alex out of explanation.

"I just wanted to let you know, I guess," Alex shrugged, voice quiet.

"Thank you," Rose smiled gently, before pulling the boy in for a hug.

Alex gratefully accepted the hug, leaning into Rose's embrace.

"Rose?" Alex then asked suddenly, voice slightly muffled by her shoulder.

"Yeah?" Rose responded with a small smile.

"I'm glad you're alright."


End file.
